(31-May-2020, 10:00)David A Wrote: The Devialet has no MQA capability. What that means is that if you play a song from Tidal which is encoded in MQA, say a 48 kHz 24 bit track, what you'll hear is the 48 kHz core of the stream and the MQA data is simply ignored. MQA encoded tracks will play on any device which can handle a data stream at the track's encoded resolution but it will only receive MQA encoding if it is processed by a device with MQA capability and the Devialet is definitely not MQA capable.
You did not say how you're streaming the song to your Devialet. If you're using Roon to access Tidal, then Roon is capable of performing the first MQA unfolding in software so you may have Roon doing that and passing the unfolded data stream to your Devialet. I have Roon doing the first unfold of MQA encoded material from Tidal, and also a file download I purchased which was MQA encoded.
There is a second "unfolding" possible with MQA encoded material but that process requires a processor with the appropriate hardware and it cannot be done with a software application so Roon does not do that unfold.
I am glad you put the second "unfold" in quotes. The second unfold is up-sampling and application of a specific MQA filter. The MQA filter is supposed to improve time domain accuracy, but does invoke aliasing, which is often a compromise with such filters. The MQA filter has been reverse engineered, and as it turns out there is noting special about it. As the Devialet up-samples digital inputs anyway, the second "unfold" really is nothing to worry about.
Another point to note. Yes, Roon can perform the first unfold, so this would work if accessing MQA via Tidal within Roon. However, the Tidal app itself can also perform the first unfold, so you do not necessarily need Roon in the chain.
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